


The Pieces This Job Takes

by FeatheredDragons



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: CT-6116 | Kix Needs A Hug, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Kix/Jesse Could Be Read As Any Medic/Other Character, background clones, no names used
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:56:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29549655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeatheredDragons/pseuds/FeatheredDragons
Summary: Every vod he lost took a fragment of his shattering soul with them.
Relationships: CT-5597 | Jesse/CT-6116 | Kix
Kudos: 2





	The Pieces This Job Takes

His nights were haunted by the screaming.

Endless screaming, the cries of the wounded, the left behind, the ones too far gone. The ones he couldn’t save. The ones he did, then lost mere moments later to another, less fixable injury. The ones with hope in their eyes at the sight of a savior that faded alongside their struggled pleas.

He lost a piece of himself to every one. Every scream, every cry, every gut-wrenching, rattling last breath. Every vod he lost took a fragment of his shattering soul with them to whatever afterlife beings such as themselves might be granted.

His hands didn’t shake, hadn’t since his early cadet days before his ability to keep firm under pressure had proven a blessing as a med-track cadet.

His body didn’t shake, but his soul rattled within his frame.

Detachedly, he heard the door to the shared officers’ cabin slide open, barely registering the footsteps approaching before they stopped in front of the bunk he’d curled up on.

“Oh, cyare.”

The mattress dipped. Arms gathered him up against a warm chest, a hand cradling his head where he pushed it closer to that steadfast heartbeat he knew like his own, needing to hear the drum of _alivealivealive_.

“K’uur, cyare, ni olar.”

He lost a piece of himself with every fallen vod, pieces he’d never recover. But he knew just as surely that those spaces would be filled, lovingly and painstakingly repaired until his soul settled back and the stillness of his hands became less force of habit and more deliberate.

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to write fluff. Muses wanted angst. Tried for a compromise.  
> Title from Criminal Minds S4E26: “How many more times will they be able to look into the abyss? How many more times before they won’t ever recover the pieces of themselves that this job takes?”  
> Mando’a Translations (I typically use mandoa.org and the Wookiepedia Mando’a pages as guides):  
> Vod: brother/sister/sibling/comrade  
> Cyare: beloved, loved, popular  
> K’uur, cyare, ni olar: Hush/Shh, love, I’m here


End file.
